This World Bank staff member, from a traditional Maasai pastoralist family in Southern Kenya, is helping to ensure that indigenous people have a seat at the table when it comes to forest conservation and climate change.

The story begins a world away from Washington. Nicholas Meitiaki Soikan — or Soikan as he’s known to most — was the sixth of seven children in what is considered a small Maasai family from Kajiado county in Kenya.
As a young boy, his mornings were spent herding livestock, mostly cattle that he had names for and considered his pets. He and his siblings went to primary school in shifts, so that meant Soikan’s turn to study was in the afternoon, often under a large acacia tree.

It’s just one month into 2017, and for many, that means they have just launched their New Year’s resolutions. The gym is still crowded, your refrigerator is still full of healthy food, but that initial motivation may not be as high as it was on, say, January 2. So, it’s time to find new sources of motivation and even inspiration for keeping that New Year’s resolution. One place to find that inspiration is the Film4Climate competition. If you’re trying to find a reason to persevere through whatever new challenges you are finding, look no further than the winners of this competition. All these films put things in a unique perspective.
​ The five winners in the short film category really can be your springboard for an inspiring 2017.

“There is no time to waste. Today will take us one step closer to bringing the Paris Agreement into force this year,” the UN chief stressed. With the recent announcement that India is committed to ratifying the Paris Agreement, it looks like it is increasingly a done deal.

Today, April 22, 2016, marks a key moment for the world with the signing of the historic Paris climate change agreement. A record number of world leaders are expected in New York at the United Nations Headquarters for the high-level signing ceremony.

It’s a clear sign that people recognize that the changing climate is impacting us now – the recent record-breaking temperature, spread of infectious diseases, and climatic conditions, are increasingly alarming and must be dealt with before it’s too late. Now is the time for action and for countries and governments to deliver on their promises made in Paris.

I’ve answered some questions that will better help explain why the signing of the Paris Agreement is critical and how we in the World Bank Group are stepping up our efforts to help countries deliver on their pledges.

So, food systems are finally on the climate change map and embedded in the language of the Paris Climate Agreement.

This is a long way from the previous involvement of agriculture as a contentious area that was subject to fractious debate and fatally entwined with the discussion around climate-change related loss and damage. A vast majority of national plans to address climate change or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) presented at the COP in Paris contained language and commitments on agriculture – for both adaptation and mitigation measures.

Pope Francis became the first Pope to address the UN General Assembly and US Congress

It has been a fascinating time to be in the United States and watch as the media and American public were transfixed by Catholic Pope Francis’ whirlwind three city sojourn to Washington DC, New York City and finally Philadelphia.

It was a trip of firsts. Pope Francis became the first Pope to address a joint session of the US Congress and then a day later marking another first in addressing the UN General Assembly just before member states unanimously adopted Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It was fitting and profound to have the Pope frame the global goals’ agenda with his remarks, since in many ways his recently released encyclical, Laudato Si, embodies the integrated and indivisible nature of the sustainable development agenda.

It puts both environmental protection and social inclusion as part and parcel to ending poverty and extending dignity instead of being an add-on or at worst an afterthought.

For World Environment Day, Connect4Climate just released a new collection of ideas for invigorating climate action, drawn from the hundreds of you who attended our international workshop on climate action and from the leaders who inspire you.

Curbing climate change will take bold action – that's a given. What we wanted to learn from the Be the Movement workshop on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Warsaw was what we can all do to encourage bold action now.

Here’s a sneak peek at the outcome. You can read more in Knowledge4Climate Action, our new report on energizing the global movement for action to tackle climate change.

More than 500 participants identified and discussed five vital needs for the climate change movement: messaging for new audiences, empowering educators, innovating campaign strategies, considering costs, and leading for solutions. These 14 key recommendations emerged: